Tábor, Czech Republic – On an icy, frozen course, but under brilliant sunshine and relatively warm conditions, Czech junior Tomas Paprstka held off a late attack by France’s Julian Alaphilippe to take the first title of the 2010 World Championships. Paprstka’s ride, buoyed by a jubilant home crowd that lined the twisting, compact course, saw him surge from relatively deep in a group of about ten riders up to first, following a blazing attack during the third lap.

French racer Emilien Viennet took the holeshot, but fell just before the stairs and surrendered the lead to Belgian Gianni Vermeersch and Dutch racer Gert-Jan Bosmon, who took turns pushing the pace, feeling each other out through the first few laps. But Paprstka surged and opened a gap of maybe 20 meters over the rest of the race, leading from there until the final lap, when he was joined by Alaphilippe. But Alaphilippe could not quite match the Czech riders kick, and as the local fans went crazy, Paprstka grabbed the first rainbow jersey of the weekend by a wheel’s length.

“When I saw a gap, I started to believe I could win,” said Paprstka. “Even though it closed at the end, I believed I could win. I said to myself, ‘I can do it.'”

Alaphilippe told reporters he was saving energy for the homestretch. “I was trying to attack,” he said, “but my legs were too sore. So I wanted to stay behind Paprstka and see if I could beat him in the sprint. I’m surprised and very happy to be on the podium.”

Alaphilippe added that he rode behind World Cup winner David Van Der Poel, but went around when he saw him start to make mistakes. Van Der Poel made it into second position in the middle of the race, but faded badly at the end and finished eighth.

The best American racer, Cody Kaiser, was 33rd, about a minute ahead of Chris Wallace, who was 39th. Kaiser was riding into the top-thirty early in the race, when he fell hard coming down from the flyover and slid back into the forties before battling back. Kaiser told Cyclocross Magazine afterwards that he was really happy with his race. “The course was awesome,” he said. “On the pre-ride this morning, it was all frozen, so it was one of those things where, if you could relax and stay upright, you would probably do pretty well.”

Other American racers included Jeff Bahnson in 44th, Skyler Trujillo in 53rd and Matt Spinks in 57th.

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